Some Ideas for Developing Successful Training
Response to “Team Challenge”
Dawn Drake
Planning training
Identify the training needs.
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o Identify company business goals that are not adequately supported by current
employee skill/performance levels
o Requests for training
o Hotline calls that show common issues and trends
o Problems or complaints from users and the people who support them and
who receive data from them (their “customers”)
Link the training objectives to business goals.
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o How does the problem (performance shortfall) impact successful achievement
of the business goals?
o How will correcting the problem impact achievement of the business goal?
o How many business goals can be impacted by a single solution?
o Which goals are most important? What performances need to be improved to
achieve the goal?
Determine the cost of the problem – potential for ROI. (What is the cost of not
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training?)
Prioritize training based on most critical need and biggest bang for buck (i.e.,
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where improving performance will have the most impact) – don’t base entire
schedule on requests.
Develop a long-term strategy for meeting the training needs that have highest
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ROI potential. Give critical needs for keeping the business functioning that might
not have the highest ROI a separate place in the strategic plan.
Work with managers and HR to develop a curriculum that would support
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important skills for specific positions. The plan probably would not be only
training; it could include kinds of experience that are beneficial, but would also
include training classes that would support specific skill requirements for each
position.
Developing training
What is impacting the performance shortfall? How much is skills (training), what
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other things may be impacting performance?
There’s a rule of thumb for determining whether a performance shortfall is a
training issue: If the potential student could do it now if his/her life was at stake,
then the issue is not training. In that case, it may be motivation, tool problems,
conflicting policies, other priorities, lack of support…and the task then is to
© Dawn Drake, 2006 Page 1 of 5

identify the real cause(s). But always: if they COULD do it if they HAD to, training
is NOT the issue. (Carl Mager)
Does anyone besides the initially-identified target need training to support
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performance on the job? (Managers, for example.)
Do some research to determine what needs to be included in a course. Don’t
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make assumptions about what learners need.
o What result does the business need?
o What issues can the supervisors identify? (And what is their attitude about
the task and the training?)
o How do master performers do the task? What recommendations do they
have?
o What does the target population do differently than (or don’t they do) the
master performers? Is there a reason they do things the way they do? If so,
is there a policy or process that needs to change to support better
performance (Sometimes the people identified as master performers are
getting better results because they circumvent the official procedures. In that
case, mgmt needs to decide whether to keep a procedure in place that may
be hindering results (and maybe cause the “master performers’” results to
drop.) or make change the procedure to the more effective method.)
o Who gets the output? What do they need? What are they getting that they
don’t want, or not getting that they do want/need?
When developing the content, go to the SME. However, when evaluating target
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audience and needs, go to the AVERAGE user and low performer.
When announcing the training, state the objectives so potential participants
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know what value they will get for their time invested and so they can determine
whether the training is appropriate for their skill levels and performance needs.
Provide a self-administered “quiz” that allows users to determine whether
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they would learn something new that they need from the training. If they can’t
answer the questions, it will help convince them of the value of the training; if
they can pass, they won’t go through the frustration of sitting through something
they don’t need.
Use a pre-test in the class (if there is time) to compare to the post test to
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measure the change (show training effectiveness with a level 2 test).
Design the training to ensure that the learners can pass the test at the end of
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the class. (The best practice is to write the objectives first, then develop the
evaluation to measure achievement of the objectives, then develop the training
to ensure the participants can pass the test, thus ensuring they have met the
objectives.)
Consider giving some training in phases – deliver training, assign a practice
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activity (may be to perform an actual task in their job), let the learner go back to
the job and try it. Then a few days later, have a follow-up session to discuss
results and provide the next level of training (more complexity).
Be realistic about how much people can remember. Instead of trying to teach
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them how to perform all the tasks in a procedure, teach them to use their
tools.
© Dawn Drake, 2006 Page 2 of 5

If you want learners to develop a skill, they must have practice and
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feedback. Demonstrations and lectures that work as “watch me (or listen to me)
and learn!” may impact attitudes, but they do not result in skill development.
An application can provide “natural feedback” if the learners are working live in
the application because they will see whether their actions work or not. Then the
instructor needs to provide learning assistance to correct errors and reinforce
correct actions.
Evaluate Results
Test at the end of the class (Level 2 evaluation) to see if the students can
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meet the learning objectives. Can be the same test as the pre-test. Use the test
results to identify weak spots in the training and support materials so that you
can correct those issues.
Do Level 3 evaluations to determine whether the participants transferred what
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they learned in the training onto the job. (May need a pre-training baseline for
this.)
To show impact on company business goals: Explore ways to do Level 4
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evaluations to see how the behavior changes shown in Level 3 evaluations are
impacting the business results. (Will need a baseline for this, and possibly an
agreement that “we will agree now that if this happens, we can attribute the
change to the training.”) Sometimes the results are surprising – possible
downstream effects of the behavior change should be considered. (I once worked
on a project where the goal of the planned training was to bring new sales reps
“up to speed” more quickly. However, the needs analysis showed that because of
the compensation practices in the company, their best reps were routinely hired
away by competitors as soon as the reps became successful. Improving skills
without changing the compensation would simply have resulted in the company
losing their good reps more quickly!)
Computer based training is a growing industry trend. Not only does it reduce
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travel costs, it allows learners to move at their own pace and to refer back to the
training at any time. Sometimes learners - sales reps, in particular - prefer the
personal interaction of instructor-led training, but they don’t want time out of
field, either. Therefore, look for ways to get the most value from the face-
to-face time when you decide to do it. Use distance learning techniques
for stable content that the reps consider to be critical to their success so
they will take the course. Then, when you do face-to-face training, use the
time to lead high-level discussions about the topic – problem solving, special
situations, advanced techniques, gather user requirements, etc.
Make Web-based training available in small chunks that can be completed in
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20 minutes or less.
Provide a reward for training performance – test, and put scores in learners’
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HR files – report results to managers - make distance courses pre-requisite to
instructor-led training that learners will consider to be very valuable, etc.
Having support available directly in a software application is (potentially) an
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excellent benefit for users. However, the information in the tool should be
context-sensitive and specific to the task (and even the data field) that the user
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is working on (and this is not inexpensive to develop!). Giving the user a large
directory of resources to choose from leads to confusion and frustration.
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Q: How can we reduce the number of training calls coming into the Hotline?
People will often use a Hotline because it’s easier and faster to call for help than to
look up the answer in job aids. So to reduce the calls, you have to make it easier to
find the answer themselves than to call the Hotline, wait their turn, explain the
problem, and be walked through the answer.
Because it is unreasonable to expect people to remember all of the information they
need, and because information and processes change, my mantra for training is:
Train people to use their resources effectively.
By “resources,” I mean the job aids and other information sources that are available.
In order to use the tools, the user has to know what exists, what it contains,
where to find it, and how to apply the information when they find it. (That
should all be covered in training.)
o The tools must be very easy to get to (and exit at any point!) while the user
is working on the task.
o Resource files must be named in a way that users can easily identify what
they need.
o If a job aid, there should be a single document that contains the information
needed: no directories of multiple resources that address the same
task or question, but said in different ways (and usually giving conflicting
information).
o Information for online help should be in small chunks so the user doesn’t
have to wade through a lot of content to find the needed information.
o Online resources should be hyperlinked internally to other related tools so the
user can easily get to additional information.
o Online resources must be easy to view and, if applicable, download and print.
o It should go without saying that the resources need to be complete and easy
to understand (well written with good grammar, spelling, etc., and formatted
consistently; clear, meaningful graphics; focused on necessary content only,
etc.)
o If the task is complex, the user needs to be trained to locate, interpret, and
apply the information in the resource.
It is also absolutely necessary that users trust that the information is correct when
they find it. Obviously, if they don’t trust the resources, they will turn to the Hotline
as the most reliable source of current information. It only takes finding bad
information once or twice to destroy the credibility of a resource. Therefore, it’s
critical that the job aids be reviewed for accuracy and that they be KEPT up to
date at all times.
© Dawn Drake, 2006 Page 5 of 5